


TTYL

by animmortalist



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Season/Series 08, Super Hero Debates, Texting, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:29:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27356545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animmortalist/pseuds/animmortalist
Summary: In which Hailey and Jay text each other even when they're right next to each other, and everyone notices. But only Rojas actually gets them to do something about it.
Relationships: Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Comments: 7
Kudos: 88





	TTYL

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shaeheda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaeheda/gifts).



> Hello, lovelies! This is my second fic for this lovely ship and I have been hype for this one for a while and can't wait to share it. So excited for our bbs to come back to us! 
> 
> Sending all my love and good thoughts to you 💜

Hailey doesn’t mean to make a habit of it. The first time Jay texts her during a stake-out, it’s for a perfectly acceptable reason. It’s about a week after she came home and he picked her up at the airport. He doesn’t want to spook the suspect that’s within earshot of their car. They catch him right in the act of dealing the heroin laced with fentanyl, so it works out. 

After that, it just keeps happening.

When they’re going after a right-wing group that’s planned an attack at a protest, stealthily tracking down an arms’ dealer near Hyde Park, and then securing thirty bricks of coke that somehow got stolen from lock-up at the 13th precinct. During their times where they can’t talk to one another, Hailey ends up texting Jay when she comes up with a plan or thinks she might’ve seen something. For the first two weeks, it’s all work related. She swears. 

It’s not until the third week that things veer off track a little. It’s not a big deal though, they’re just quick messages to one another. It doesn’t interfere with their work and Hailey knows they’d both drop any notion of casual conversation the minute work commanded their attention. 

At first, she can almost call it a joke. Once, he texts her what her favorite kind of pizza is instead of simply asking her. 

She gives him an amused smile. “Couldn’t communicate with words?”

He rolls his eyes and pouts a little and she laughs as she types back a reply. 

_ imessage _

**Hailey:** pepperoni, duh. gotta stick with the classics.

**Jay:** where’s your sense of adventure?

**Hailey:** not in my pizza

**Jay:** oh, so you’re adventurous in other culinary endeavors

**Hailey:** wouldn’t you like to know

Then they’re interrupted when their snitch totally ruins the deal and they’re guns blazing in to save his sorry ass. Hailey doesn’t think about the conversation until later, when they’re all out to Molly’s. 

Atwater tells a story about the best sushi of his life and Jay adds, on the sly, “You should take Hailey there sometime, I have it on good authority she’s a foodie.”

She hates, hates, hates that she blushes. God. He’s so annoying. 

It is nice though, to joke around and just talk to Jay. Even when they can’t actually speak. She missed him, after all. It seems that he missed her a lot, too. If their texting is anything to go by, at least. Plus, the way he practically lifted her fully off the ground when she came out of the airport towards his car. 

She knows it’s not good for her, but she might’ve missed him more than ‘a lot’. More than a whole lot. Like...An embarrassing amount.

It doesn’t stop the texting though. 

One day, they’re in the van with Adam, and Jay’s fighting her about who’s more powerful: Batman or Wonder Woman. Obviously, she’s team Wonder Woman. 

_ imessage  _

**Hailey:** WW would beat Batman’s ass, i’m telling you

**Jay:** are you kidding?! batman has like five weapons, plus a sweet ass car

**Hailey:** are you Batman in this scenario?

**Jay:** of course not

**Hailey:** good because you’re more of a Green Arrow type to me

**Jay:** okay but Green Arrow is like...rich

**Hailey:** oh, you’re right. forgive me. you’re Green Arrow with #debt. but, you know, Batman is also rich, for the record. the dude’s got a butler. 

**Jay:** i hate you

**Hailey:** because WW kicks batman’s ass 

He’s typing out a reply when she looks up and sees Adam watching them.

“What?” she asks, keeping her voice even, innocent. 

She reminds herself that they’ve done nothing wrong. They’ve been on this stake-out for  _ hours _ and so far nothing’s happened. It’s not a crime, what they’re doing...So why does it feel like breaking the rules?

He shrugs and looks out the window. “Nothing,” he replies in a bit of a sing-song voice. 

  
  


She wants to argue, but then she sees Jay’s reply and realizes she has some serious educating to do in the history of super heroes. She doesn’t think about it again until later that night, as a last thought while she drifts off to sleep. It doesn’t mean anything though, and she certainly shouldn’t feel the need to stop texting Jay because Adam’s weird. He’s always weird.

Which is why she definitely doesn’t entertain it when Adam asks her if she thinks Jay is too cool for school the next time the three of them are paired together. He clarifies that cool is spelled ‘kewl,’ as if she needs that context. 

Nor does she acknowledge it when Atwater starts humming what sounds suspiciously like ‘Be My Baby’ by The Ronettes when it’s just the two of them in his car cause Jay’s out on the street, but still sends her a text every five minutes or so. 

Or the time when Burgess asks Hailey who she’s texting and she nods next to her at Jay without thinking about it and she makes an ‘awww’ sound while tilting her head to the side. Like a puppy or something. It’s ridiculous. 

Whatever. Her unit is full of weirdos. Her and Jay have a thing that’s working for them. They’re great partners. Maybe the rest of them are just jealous. Yeah, she decides. That must be it. They don’t get it, and they probably wish they had a partner they were that in sync with. That has to be it. Because...Well, any alternatives best aren’t thought of really.

Hailey believes it hasn't gotten to Voight, yet, thankfully, but then is given a rude awakening. 

“You and Upton go track this son of a gun down,” he tells Jay. Before they can even get up from their desks, he adds, “Feel free to text her so she knows, too.”

Neither one of them say anything to that. She isn’t sure what she’s even meant to say to her boss possibly making a  _ joke _ about her and Jay. It feels like she might’ve slipped through a looking glass into a parallel universe or something.    
  


She doesn’t plan to bring it up, but Jay does. 

“I don’t get what’s so freakin’ weird about it to them,” he says as they’re entering hour three of a stake-out that’s gone nowhere. 

She shrugs. If he doesn’t see anything wrong with what they’re doing, then she isn’t going to look for reasons for them to stop their form of communication. If the rest of them can’t get it, that’s on them. 

“I decided they’re probably just jealous,” she replies. “I mean, out of everyone, can you really say any of them have a partnership that rivals ours?” She shakes her head. “Not that their partnerships are  _ bad  _ just that…”

“No, I get it,” he tells her, sort of quickly. 

Like he might be nervous. Or in some kind of rush to stop her from continuing. She’s grateful he does though. She didn’t even know where  _ she  _ was going with that. 

He coughs and goes on, “They just don’t get the nuance of the art of conversation. Plus, it’s not as if it disrupts our work.” He shakes his head and waves a hand. “I mean, if anything, it’s made us communicate  _ better _ .”

“Preaching to the choir,” she responds and grins. 

He returns it immediately and she ignores the way her stomach does a little somersault at the look in his eyes when he smiles at her. 

“Alright, so...We’re good?” he asks, only to make absolutely sure, because she’s positive that he already knows how she feels. 

“We’re perfect.” She looks out the window and then feels her phone buzz in her pocket.

_ imessage  _

**Jay:** okay, so i’m pretty sure i already know the answer to this but: hockey or football and why.

**Hailey:** you’re kidding right? hockey, of course. 

**Jay:** that’s the wrong answer!

Hailey grins and starts typing furiously, deadset on winning this argument. It goes on for a while. Long enough that eventually Voight calls them back in. They didn’t even notice how much time passed. It’s always like that with Jay though. Hailey isn’t sure why that is, and honestly, she thinks it isn’t too good of an idea to look for an answer. Probably because once she knew, there wouldn’t be any going back. 

It isn’t until Vanessa figures out their new form of conversing that things change. Mostly because unlike everyone else, she isn’t afraid to make them acknowledge it, and what it really means. If it wasn’t for her, things might’ve  _ never  _ changed. 

“You guys should just go out already,” Rojas says around a wry smile when Jay brings Hailey a coffee to a crime scene and sends her a quick text making fun of how she drinks it. 

Jay does not actually fall on his face, but almost. 

Meanwhile, Hailey chokes on her coffee, and burns her tongue. 

They don’t have time to deconstruct exactly what she means though, because there’s a dead body commanding their attention. It’s a grueling case, and has them running around the city for three days. Not until they finally, finally catch the guy does Vanessa expand on what she meant. 

“Sorry if I was a little forward,” she says to Hailey that night over wine and popcorn and a romcom. “About Jay,” she expands when Hailey doesn’t say anything. 

She tries to wave her off. “No worries. But you know it’s not like that between us.”

Vanessa bites her lip. She thinks she’ll agree with her and they’ll go back to the movie, and that will be it. Just a misunderstanding and a joke that didn’t quite land. Hailey reminds herself that they’ve been here before. It isn’t the first time Rojas has made a comment about their partnership. She knows where Jay stands though, and it is definitely not  _ there _ . If it were there, she’d know. 

Hell, some secret piece of her thinks if he were there, the whole damn world would know, because she’d post that crap all over instagram. 

Instead of dismissing the comment though, Vanessa grabs Hailey’s bowl of popcorn and sets it aside. 

“We need to have a very frank conversation about your reality.”

Hailey frowns. “What are you—”

She holds up a hand. “Enough. I thought this was actually getting you guys  _ somewhere  _ especially after you came back, but no, it seems you two are still intent on playing pretend and hiding from the truth.”

Shaking her head, Hailey starts to try to form a response, but finds one won’t come. Which is...Annoying and frustrating and makes her almost believe Rojas has a point. Which she doesn’t. Of course. Hailey doesn’t  _ hide from the truth _ . 

Maybe she does. A little. But only because she  _ needs  _ to, as a form of self-preservation. Vanessa should understand that. 

“You like Jay.” Rojas’ voice is resolute, daring Hailey to disagree. 

“Of course, I do,” she responds, this part is easy to admit. “He’s my—”

Vanessa shakes her head and looks up at the ceiling and then back at her. “If you say, ‘he’s my partner’ again, I swear I will hit you with a hairbrush. It won’t hurt that bad, but it will be shameful.”

Hailey swallows, and for once, waits to hear what she has to say about her and Jay. 

She nods and continues, “Thank you, now, I was also going to say that  _ Jay likes you _ . And not in a, ‘she’s my partner,’ kind of way. In a, ‘I wanna be the one and only Mr. Hailey Upton’ kind of way, so don’t even try to argue any different.”

It’s tempting, what she’s offering. The worst part is that Hailey  _ knows  _ she wants it to be true. More than is good for her. More than is good for Jay. Definitely more than is good for their partnership. But she knows if Jay felt that way about her, she would know it already. He doesn’t. Maybe because there’s something wrong with her but probably because he can have  _ anyone _ . Why would he want her?

“I know you think that—” she starts, already shutting down her hidden hopes she thought she had so carefully eradicated from her mind and heart and maybe even soul. 

“I know it,” Vanessa interrupts. “Look, it’s scary, yes. You work together and practically spend every hour talking to one another. You’re closer than close and if it goes bad it might blow up in everyone’s faces. But honestly? You owe it to each other to try. You might owe it to me, too, actually.”

Hailey smiles and lets herself imagine it, her and Jay, for a moment, Her smile gets impossibly wide and she takes a healthy sip of wine to recover. If she’s going to have an actual talk about this, she needs to get her feelings in check first. 

“You really think he feels the same?” she asks.

She wants to immediately backpedal since she’s gone and admitted how she feels without really saying it, but then she figures it’s useless. Vanessa already knows. She’s probably always known, when Hailey considers it. Besides, if it means she might have a chance at being with Jay, then she thinks she can sacrifice some of her pride. 

Vanessa rolls her eyes. “Yes, very obviously so. You’re the last to know, congrats. Now, will you promise me you’ll actually do something about it?”

Hailey swallows, unsure. Vanessa raises a brow. In the end, she crumbles. “Okay.” She nods and takes a big breath. “I will  _ try  _ to do something about me and Jay.”

Her roommate grins. “Good. Now, can we please get back to the movie? Just because you’re living out a romcom and don’t need escapist watching doesn’t mean we’re all that lucky.”

It turns out actually trying to do something about her relationship with Jay is a lot harder than hiding from the truth and doing nothing. 

A lot harder. 

Over the course of a week, Hailey does her best to start the conversation. But every time she has the opportunity, either her throat closes up and she can’t get the words out, or they’re unceremoniously interrupted by work or something else. Like Atwater demanding that she do an ABBA song with him at karaoke night. They kill it, of course, but she regrets not talking to Jay that night because Vanessa just raises her brow at her and shakes her head.

She reminds herself that she owes it to the both of them, and yes, Rojas, too, to try and make a move. 

In the end, the idea is all kinds of corny, and she makes Jay promise to never tell anyone, which he does, even though they both know he most definitely is going to tell  _ everyone _ . 

They’re sitting next to each other in his car. It’s freezing out, but inside the car is warm. Jay texts her first, and that’s when she decides. 

_ imessage  _

**Jay:** okay, but i know this is a controversial opinion but i think i’m team coyote. poor dude is just trying to get some food, you know. live his life. then this roadrunner comes into his life and ruins it forever. 

**Jay:** go on, tell me how wrong i am

**Hailey:** do want to maybe...i don’t know...go out to dinner sometime?

**Jay:** wait, you don’t wanna grill me about the coyote and roadrunner???

**Hailey:** do you not want to go out to dinner?

**Jay:** i mean, sure, we go out to dinner like twice a week, but i thought you’d be more pissed on behalf of the roadrunner

**Hailey:** can we fight about the roadrunner at dinner?

**Jay:** oh, so you just want to shame me in a public space

**Hailey:** it’s really the dinner part i care about

**Jay:** are you hungry cause i think i have a snickers bar in here somewhere

**Hailey:** the food isn’t really the goal

**Jay:** is this a riddle

**Hailey:** fine. i mean like, ideally, sex would be the goal

**Jay:** WHAT

**Hailey:** forget i said that 

**Jay:** wait

**Hailey:** you can really pretend you never saw that. forever. 

**Jay:** i will not!!! 

**Jay:** you want to have sex?!

**Jay:** why didn’t you tell me before????

**Jay:** i’m gonna frame that text 

**Jay:** again, why is this the first i’m hearing of this?!

**Hailey:** well, you know, dinner. then sex. like, a, yk...date.

**Hailey:** oh god

**Hailey:** forget i said any of that please

**Hailey:** yell at vanessa, not me, okay? i was perfectly happy never facing this or doing anything about it or...god. i’m gonna kill her. 

He doesn’t reply though, which makes her spiral for a second. Until she looks up and sees the widest grin she’s ever seen on his face. His eyes are practically sparkling, too. It kind of inflates her ego a little, he’s so happy. Hailey knows for sure that they’re gonna go on that date. Even though he hasn’t even said anything yet. Half of her mind (the one that’s still somehow coherent despite what’s happening) thinks that he might be in shock or something. Could happiness put you into shock? She isn’t sure, but she’s betting if it’s possible, the two of them would manage it. 

She half-expects a text once it all settles in after a moment, but there isn’t one. 

Instead, he cups her cheek with his hand and kisses her. Soft and slow. Like they’re not at work and trailing a suspect. Like they have all the time in the world to just be Jay and Hailey and enjoy this. She grins against his lips and lets the moment go on longer than is probably good for either one of them. Whatever. They just got together. She’s sure there will be ample opportunity for all their co-workers to give them crap. Most of all Vanessa, who she’s gotta buy like an edible arrangement for or something. After another kiss, he pulls back and sends along a quick message on his phone. When her own dings, she rolls her eyes but looks at it regardless. He’s cute, okay? 

_ imessage  _

**Jay:** so does this mean we’re official?

**Hailey:** shut up and kiss your girlfriend again

**Jay:** if you insist

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading ❤︎
> 
> Find me on tumblr (@detectivebellamyblake)


End file.
